


Our Destiny

by Palefire73



Series: Loki Origins [28]
Category: Eir - Fandom, Frigga - Fandom, Loki - Fandom, Marvel, Norse Gods - Fandom, Thor - Fandom, odin - Fandom
Genre: Cute Loki, Gen, Near Death, Peril, Thor's new amazing powers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-24
Updated: 2017-10-24
Packaged: 2019-01-22 12:34:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12481680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Palefire73/pseuds/Palefire73
Summary: Odin is not particularly impressed with Thor's apparent lack of powers in his swordsmanship grading, especially since he found out that he now contains the power of the storm. Yet after Loki ingests something which could kill him, The All Father is reassured that Thor really does 'have the power' and the brothers' destiny begins to be shaped.





	Our Destiny

It was a chilly day in Asgard. The trees were now completely bereft of their leaves and the stark branches were a sharp contrast to the clear blue of the wintry sky on this particular afternoon. Plumes of white breath positively billowed from the mouths and noses of the crowd of spectators currently gathered in one of the training arenas just behind the barracks as they watched the activity going on in the combat area. They formed a sea of rich autumnally coloured winter clothes, with furs, cloaks, hats and thick gloves protecting their skin from the frosty air while they looked on with interest. Down in the combat area, however, the competitors were far from cold; the strenuous nature of their physical activity as they dodged, parried and attacked had soon got them sweating, and by the end of each bout they were steaming like horses.

 

Odin was paying particular attention to the battles being fought in front of him. He was sitting in the Royal Box with his Queen, Frigga, his son, Tyr, and the young Prince Loki. Tyr was back from an exchange position for a few days and had been rather excited to see Thor after being away for quite a long time, but he was also happily surprised by how much Loki had changed since he had last seen him. The whole family had decided to make an appearance at the competition today as a way to spend some time together as well as showing support for the budding future Warriors of Asgard. Loki had been a little wary of Tyr for a while, having not seen him many times in his short life, but once he had discovered that the older Prince was of a kindly nature and quick to ensure Loki was included in whatever was happening, he warmed to him and asked to sit with him in the Royal Box. Tyr was currently explaining all the different moves to the little boy, helping him to guess what might happen next and discussing why certain tactics had not worked. It all led to a bonding between them and Frigga in particular was very pleased to see how her other foster son had taken to the latest addition to Odin’s eclectic family.

 

A bell sounded and the two combatants stopped what they were doing. The one who had been the stronger of the two gallantly held out his hand and helped the other up from the ground where he had been about to submit and the two of them turned and saluted a panel of Judges in the Asgardian fashion. They were undergoing a grading today and the results would dictate which classes they would attend the following term, so how they performed was very important. Odin sat up straighter on his throne as he saw his son, Thor, walk out into the combat area with his opponent, ready to do battle and to try to move up to the next level. Frigga smiled as the golden haired Prince looked her way; she was incredibly proud of how Thor was growing up and she very much hoped he would do well in this grading. She patted Loki’s arm and showed him who had come out to compete and so the whole family quietened down to watch how Thor would do.

 

The two competitors came over to the Royal Box and saluted their King and Queen before going before the Judges and doing the same. Then they went to the middle of the combat area and took up defensive stances, nodding at each other respectfully as they waited for the bell to sound, starting the battle. After a few moments, its clear tones chimed out and the two opponents began to circle each other, assessing how their opposite moved and looking for the first opportunity to strike. They both wore fairly robust armour for their age, including bracers, pauldrons and helmets, and each of them brandished a short sword whilst defending with a rounded shield. Thor quickly moved to make the first attack and within seconds they were both dancing round, striking, parrying and dodging each other’s weapons. It seemed to be a fairly evenly matched competition, but Thor’s opponent landed badly on his foot and twisted it after jumping to one side to avoid a strike by the Prince, and he fell over. Within seconds, Thor was standing over him with his sword tip at his throat and, knowing he was defeated, the boy yielded. Thor helped him up and they saluted each other before walking over to the Judges, where they saluted once again before leaving the combat area – Thor patting his opponent’s back in consolation.

 

Up in the Royal box, Loki was bouncing on Tyr’s lap with pride at his brother’s victory and telling Tyr all about it even though the older Prince had seen what had happened too. Frigga motioned for a servant to pour a celebratory tankard of hot spiced mead and glanced at Odin to see what he had thought of the competition. She was very surprised to see the King with a frown on his face.

 

“My King, what is the matter? You do not look happy at your son’s victory at all!”

“That is because I am not, my beautiful and observant wife.” Replied Odin testily, “That was no victory! The other boy did not even put up a fight! It was a complete walk-over. I need to speak to the Weaponsmaster. I want Thor to be _tested_ , not molly-coddled!”

Tyr and Loki looked round in surprise at Odin’s sharp tone and Frigga sighed. There would be no use in trying to convince the King otherwise; he had always stressed the importance of excellent swordsmanship in any member of the Royal Family, but particularly in those who would be expected to perform on the battlefield. Tyr was familiar with the way in which his father would push for them to strive to be the best and it would not be long until Loki was introduced to the same regime. Frigga could only support her husband’s decisions and be there for their children if and when they came to her with bruised egos and injuries sustained in training and competitions. Yet today she had new concerns about Odin’s poor reaction to the battle they had just witnessed and she knew she would have to take it up with him as part of her duty towards him as both his wife and his Queen, for she knew it was to do with what he had learned at Mímir’s Well. Another pair of combatants came out to compete and the Royals all turned to watch, each with their own thoughts about Thor’s performance going through their minds.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

A few days later, the Princes were out with their mother, walking through some of the private forests which lay behind the Palace and overlapped lowlands of the Mountain of Asgard; they were exploring various trails, natural caves and testing their skills at climbing trees, identifying possible sources of food and digging up stones and ants nests. In short, doing what any young children like to do whilst out in the natural world. Tyr was staying close to Thor and the two brothers were enjoying their time together, messing around scratching sticks in the dirt, giving each other leg-ups to climb high up and reach interesting-looking branches in the trees above them. Thor had been feeling a bit low after a dressing down from Odin regarding the grading tournament; even though he had graduated to the next class up, his father had not been shy in making it known that he thought Thor had won it too easily and did not necessarily merit the promotion. However, Tyr had spoken to him about how Odin had expected the same high standards of him too and had managed to make his brother feel a little bit better about things. Thor was still experiencing a heightened level of strength at the moment and the truth of the matter had been that, when his opponent had fallen in the combat area, he had had to restrain himself. His own body had almost betrayed him by going as far as to end the other boy’s life and the experience had actually frightened him. Although he respected his father and adored his mother, he had not been able to confide his experience to either of them and so it was a relief to the golden-haired Prince that Tyr was home to listen to his worries and give him some advice.

 

Loki and Frigga were trailing a little behind the two boys and the Queen was giving her youngest some lessons in identification of plants. He already knew a lot of the trees, but Frigga was now showing him some of the herbaceous plants growing in the low ground cover, where they could touch, feel and even taste the various flora as she explained their properties to him. They were next to a shallow river which wound through the forest and they were discussing a tiny green flower shaped like the golden bell at the top of the highest tower of the Palace, when Loki suddenly reached out to grab it and brought it to his mouth before Frigga could tell him what it was for. To her horror, Loki bit on one of the petals of the very pretty little flower and began to chew it with a smile on his face, but Frigga was far from smiling. In his ignorance, Loki had just picked an Asgardian Greenbell, and Frigga had been showing it to him to warn against ever doing such a thing because she knew it could kill him. Although harmless to most races – and even most animals – of the Nine, this delicate bell-shaped flower was lethal to Jotúnns. She immediately grabbed the remaining parts of the plant from his hand and told him to spit it out, then scooped up water from the river and told him to drink it, hoping that he had not swallowed any of the Greenbell. The three year old became very scared and began to wail as she made him wash his mouth out and swallow lots of water, and then she called Thor and Tyr over to tell them they were going straight back to the Palace. She scooped Loki up and they all hurried back along the trail to get there with the two older Princes not quite sure what had happened. As they rushed along, Frigga channelled her Seidr into Loki, slowing down all of his metabolic functions in the hope of halting the progress of anything he might have ingested. The little boy showed signs of falling unconscious in her arms and panic began to set in; was it because he was dying, or was it because of her Seidr?!

 

As they arrived back at the Palace and made their way to the Royal Healing Rooms, Frigga finally felt Loki’s body grow limp and tears began to blur her vision as Eir approached her and took him from her to place in a Soul Forge. Another Healer was charged with taking the other two Princes to the Royal Accommodation to be with their father and Eir began to question Frigga as she powered the Forge up and began to loosen Loki’s clothing.

“My Queen? Can you shed any light on this?”

“Oh Eir! Eir, it is Greenbell! I was showing it to him so that I could warn him that it is poisonous and he just took it and bit it and he… I tried to stop it with my Seidr… he spat it out… we washed his mouth out, but… Oh, I cannot believe what has happened!”

Any colour that may have been in the Healer’s face drained away as Frigga mentioned the tiny and normally completely harmless plant. She was aware of the physiology of the young Prince, of course; she was the Senior Healer in the Palace and, as such, was always the one to attend to the needs of the Royal Family. Realising the urgency of the situation, she nodded at her Queen and motioned for her most trusted assistant, Elia, to come over to help.

“My Queen, you will have to supplement the Forge with your Seidr. Elia, please bring me the black casket from the safe. I need my most powerful antidotes to treat the Prince.” Elia quickly left to go to Eir’s office where there was a heavy safe containing the most precious instruments and ingredients the Nine had to offer. It was rarely used, but Eir knew that it was the only place she would find anything of any use in this instance.

“The truth is, there is no known antidote to the poisoning of Jotúnns by this plant, my Queen…”

“Frigga, please.”

“Frigga. We will have to use things with purgative properties and I am afraid you going to see Loki go through some distressing experiences. I promise you that none of them will harm him, but they will be very upsetting to see. We must work quickly and together and we must bear to see him suffer in order for him to have any chance at survival.” Eir looked at Frigga through the swirling red mists which had formed around Loki’s still form, “Are you able to do this?”

Frigga tried but failed to stop the tears streaming down her face, yet she nodded stoically. “Yes, Eir. Let us commence. We need to save his life!”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Having had a brief explanation of what was happening – omitting the part about Loki’s true origin – Thor was not happy about being separated from Loki in his hour of need. He protested as he was led along to the Royal Accommodation and complained at length to Odin about how he should be by his younger brother’s side, about how he was a man now and could cope with anything he might see. The All Father refused all of his requests to leave and to go to see what was happening and he eventually fell into a sulk at his inability to move Odin on his decision. After a while, he asked that he be allowed to retire and insisted that he wanted to sleep in the nursery where he would have normally been with Loki and that he be told about any change in the younger Prince’s condition. Odin begrudgingly agreed and so Fulla took him along to the nursery, where he got ready for bed and lay there hugging Loki’s toy Helgrindr with a mixture of anger, worry and sorrow, wishing desperately that his brother would recover soon.

 

Darkness fell, and still Thor was awake, tossing and turning and quite unable to get to sleep. As he lay there, he realised he could hear very faint snores from the small room that Fulla was sleeping in just off to one side of the nursery and his blue eyes widened as he came fully awake. As silently as an Asgardian Mouse, he pulled back the covers on his bed and picked up Helgrindr, tucking the soft toy inside the jacket of his pyjamas. Taking over-long yet quiet steps across the room in his bare feet, he then eased the door handle to open it and slipped outside before closing it carefully. Checking that no one else was about, he set off at great pace down the corridor towards the Healing Room, only to hear the footsteps of a patrol coming along. It was the guards assigned to the Royal Accommodation! With only a moment to spare, Thor ducked behind a huge statue of some ancestor or another and waited for them to pass before slipping out and carrying on to his destination.

 

Everything was quiet, but the centre of the room was illuminated by the red mists of the Soul Forge and Thor saw Eir, Elia and his mother standing around it, all clearly at work. His eyes travelled down as he walked quietly into the room, as yet unnoticed by the women, and he saw Loki’s inert form lying there. It was too much for him. Tired and worried to the bone about his brother, Thor could not stop a sob escaping him and he arrived at the side of the Forge as his mother and the healers looked up from their work to see him there. His vision blurred as he came to his mother’s side and she stopped what she was doing to turn to him and hug him as his shoulders began to shudder with his tears, and feelings of absolute helplessness and despair washed through him.

“Is he dead?” He managed to whisper in a hoarse voice, “Is Loki dead?”

“No, my son, but he is very, very poorly. We have done all we can with the various healing potions Eir has, my Seidr and the power of the Forge. But… it seems…” Frigga’s voice faltered and Thor looked up at her as a hollow feeling began deep inside. She continued, the sadness in her heart plain to see in her beautiful features, “Thor, it may not be enough. We have taken the Forge to its absolute limit and the early signs are that it may not be enough…”

“No!” Cried Thor, “Give it more power!”

“We cannot, my son. It is at its limit already and…”

“There must be a way!” Thor turned away from her and looked at Eir, who was clearly also distressed, “Eir, you must know how to do it! You _must!”_

 

Frigga watched her son in despair; _was he about to witness the death of a sibling for the very first time?_ The truth was that Asgardian Greenbell was most deadly against infants and the old and the weak and Loki’s vital signs were fading despite all they had done; he must have ingested some of the plant before she had made him spit it out. Despite the fact that the Forge was the most modern healing platform in Asgard, it was not quite managing to fight the reaction because it could not draw enough power from the network running through Asgard to do the job. A roar from her son shocked her into looking at him again just in time to grab hold of Loki’s toy Helgrindr as he shoved it into her hands.

 

“No! It cannot be! _Loki cannot die_!” The dim lighting around the healing room flickered and Frigga glanced at Eir in concern. _What was going on?_ It dimmed and brightened again and now Elia looked around, wondering how it was happening. Then Thor shouted out again.

“Why are you not trying something else?! Why are you not getting more power into this Forge? You should have the engineers here, _you should be trying more!”_ His voice grew louder and deeper somehow and Frigga felt the fine hairs on her arms begin to rise. A distinct hum began to sound all around them and Thor turned to face the Forge, “It needs…. more…. _power!”_ He shouted again and raised his hands up as he did so, looking up to the lofty ceiling above them.

 

All of a sudden, a huge arc of energy formed at the pinnacle of the domed canopy and travelled down the wall, only to split and jump into the gap between Thor’s outstretched hands. It crackled with white energy and grew in size, illuminating the whole room and the faces of the astonished women. Spikes of energy erupted from along the length of the bright arc, jumping around the room and charging the air within, growing stronger and stronger until finally Thor’s whole being was infused with power, his eyes glowing as if from within and crackling sparks flying from his fingertips. Before Frigga or the others could react, he turned his hands to the control panel of the Forge and unleashed the force straight into it, whereupon all the dials indicated full power, before circling again and again and again, as if out of control. The red mists began to swirl around haphazardly, seeming to concentrate at certain points of Loki’s body, specifically where his liver, his brain and his kidneys were located and within seconds they turned purple and then black at those points. Eir looked at Frigga helplessly; this had never happened before and she simply did not know what to do, but as her Queen stepped away from the Forge and nodded at her to do the same, she realised that she had to place her trust in what Thor was doing. She sighed and followed suit; Loki was dying anyway and this could not do him any more harm. She surrendered to the charged atmosphere in the room, which was starting to make her feel almost euphoric and watched to see what would happen.

 

Within the mists of the Forge the limp and lifeless form of the young Prince suddenly jerked as if he had been shaken by an unseen entity, and then again. The black mists faded to a golden colour and then all about him became the usual calm orangey-red which signified healing and the energy which had been streaming from Thor’s hands ceased, leaving him standing there staring at the forge. All evidence that he had undergone any sort of transformation completely left him as he walked over to the Forge and as they all looked into the mists, Loki coughed and began to breathe deeply and the control panels returned to normal, displaying all of his vital signs. They were weak, but growing stronger by the second. Eir checked them, tapping the dials and turning control knobs and glancing at the sleeping Prince, before turning to Frigga and smiling through sudden tears.

“My Queen, the Prince is showing signs of recovery!”

 

Thor came to stand by Frigga’s side and he leaned against her as she placed an arm around his shoulders. They both looked into the mists of the Forge and Thor sighed heavily before taking Helgrindr from his Mother’s hand. He lifted the thin cloth covering Loki and tucked the soft toy in next to him. “He will be safe now,” he said and returned to Frigga’s embrace. The beautiful Queen was still at a loss as to what to say about what she had just witnessed, but it was clear that Loki was on the mend and any discussion about this could wait until later – or so she believed. But then she became aware of another presence in the healing room, someone standing just inside the door and who she realised had witnessed everything that had just happened. And from the look on his face, that someone would want the discussion sooner than she had possibly anticipated.

 

Odin.

**Author's Note:**

> OK folks, I'm off to see Thor:Ragnarok now, so here's a story to keep you entertained in the meantime!!!
> 
> The eagle-eyed amongst you will spot the Asgardian Greenbell, which is mentioned in Erika's diaries and in "States Of A God's Heart". If you have not done so already, you can read there how it becomes an intrinsic part of Loki's dependence on her :)


End file.
